Cat Johnson: Participatory budgeting is becoming increasingly popular, with more than 1,500 programs worldwide. The concept is simple: People submit ideas for what government should spend a portion of its money on and then vote on the best ideas. Until now, however, the process has been limited to cities and regions. Recently, Portugal became the first county to instate a… Continue reading
An article by Guido Smorto which was presented at the 1st IASC Thematic Conference on Urban Commons “The City as a Commons: Reconceiving Urban Space, Common Goods and City Governance”, November 6- 7th, 2015, Bologna, Italy. Description “Sharing economy and urban commons are inherently intertwined. New technologies and business models for the production and consumption… Continue reading
Abstract “Today’s social bots are sophisticated and sometimes menacing. Indeed, their presence can endanger online ecosystems as well as our society. Bots (short for software robots) have been around since the early days of computers. One compelling example of bots is chatbots, algorithms designed to hold a conversation with a human, as envisioned by Alan… Continue reading
Holonic philosophy, as shared here, is the attempt to take a scientific approach and apply it to social organizations. Functionally, the way this happens has its own scientific process: (1) Examine an organizational type and state clearly the goals of that organization. In Koestler’s formulation this would be the Gestalt-Form. In the Exponential Organizational model… Continue reading
An interesting article by J.Z. Garrod originally published at Triple C: Abstract Although it is still in early stages, many commentators have been quick to note the revolutionary potential of next-generation or Bitcoin 2.0 technology. While some have expressed fear that the widespread application of these technologies may engender the rise of a Terminator-style Skynet,… Continue reading
Actually, you can even make more money with Open Source than what you could make in an average well-paid Silicon Valley job. That’s no exaggeration or any hypothetical. Its as real as it gets with numbers, with actual people and small businesses to prove it. In the past two decades, Open Source has become an… Continue reading
I confess my reaction on Election Night, when it first looked like Trump might get in the White House, was sheer panic. It was a bit like Philip K. Dick’s “Black Iron Prison” closing down. On a personal level, I was about as terrified as the night I was arrested and put in jail. Now,… Continue reading
Here is an important report on pro-coop policies in 10 cities. The full report is available to download through this link. Highlighting some of the most the important findings, the article we’re sharing below was written by and originally published at Grassroots Economic Organizing. 10 Cities Investing in Healthy, Sustainable & Equitable Growth City governments… Continue reading
An article by the Green European Journal Editorial Board, as part of Volume 14 “Finding Common Ground”: “A striking brand of political momentum is building, driven by the resurgence of citizen-led initiatives around the commons – movements which amount to a contestation of existing regimes and models. Taking place at a certain turning point of… Continue reading
Urbanization pervades conversations about the human future. Yet some people emigrate from the city to rural areas. Those who do bring exposure to complex social dynamics and ubiquitous technology. Yet they typically do not relocate to the country in order to corporate agricultural operations. Rural natives of course have a culture in place. As they… Continue reading
I know this has been a rough time for a lot of you, and I hope you are doing well. In brief: Yes, there has been a major electoral upheaval, and it seems there are many confused people out there working under some pretty strange assumptions. But no, this isn’t as much of a shift… Continue reading
The P2P Foundation supports this campaign to protect open wifi networks. The following text was written by the Pirate Party’s Julia Reda: tl;dr: Projects building open communications networks using custom router software are playing an important role in providing refugees with Internet access. Last year, largely unbeknownst to the public, a new EU directive was… Continue reading
In Portpatrick, a fishing village on the west coast of Scotland, locals sold shares in their historic harbour to save it from private ownership. Read the full story at the Guardian: theguardian.com/society/2016/sep/28/how-scottish-villagers-bought-portpatrick-harbour-saved-futurePhoto by WorldFish
We’re very happy to announce this project for 2017. Cross-posted from Stad.gent. A Commons Transition Plan will describe the role and possibilities for the City in reinforcing citizen initiatives. From 15 March 2017 peer-to-peer expert Michel Bauwens will conduct a three-month research and participation project in Ghent on the ‘commons city of the future’. The… Continue reading
Certain changes to the cooperative form could permit the creation of enterprises that would not belong to anyone specifically but would be at the disposal of its users, workers and clients alike We have argued in the past few years for a new form of ‘open cooperativism’ in which cooperatives would engage themselves structurally and legally… Continue reading
As part of our series analysing Trump’s victory and its consequences for all change-making movements, Naomi Klein writes the following for the Guardian: They will blame James Comey and the FBI. They will blame voter suppression and racism. They will blame Bernie or bust and misogyny. They will blame third parties and independent candidates. They will blame the… Continue reading